The Laughing Assassin [Assassin's Diary] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Jennifer Willows

the new developments spill.
    She gave Kris most of the details, but not all. She didn’t want her sensitive friend to feel any shame about being alive, free, and happy at the cost of another woman’s freedom. And she knew Kris like the back of her hand. Kris would pretend like it didn’t bother her. But it would. It bothered Jaden, and if the thought was enough to make her feel the liquid burn of guilt? It would probably destroy Kris, and there was no way Jaden was going to allow anything to get in the way of the sorely needed healing process.
    It would take time and understanding to get past some of what had been done to her during her captivity. It took Kris three years to even speak about it, and even then the she almost broke down. Now here Jaden was a few years later and she wanted so badly for her only friend to be whole again, even though she had never known Kris when she would have had reason to be that way.
    Kris’s response surprised her. She didn’t expect the younger woman to be willing to change so much about their lives without several complaints. But Kris was awesome and completely accepting.
    “I am not going to be a baby about it…I promise. When I was trapped in that room with him”—Kris hadn’t progressed far enough to say Jourdain’s name without an issue, but that was a fight best left to another day—“I knew I was going to die and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. When you saved me, I had the hope again that I could get the chance to appreciate everything that I didn’t before. I got a second lease on life that night, and these other women deserve the same.”
    “Thank you, Kris.” The girl hugged her, a small affection that even now was hard to accept. “I should be gone for a few weeks or so. After that I can come back and forth for a while until I finish.”
    “And what about that guy, uh what’s his name? Jonah? I know he likes you. I could see the way he looked for you yesterday when you took your break. He was a bit obvious about it, too. Then when you thought no one was watching, you went out to the dining room and I saw your disappointment when you realized he was gone, so I can safely say you like him back, too.” Kris smiled the earsplitting grin of a kid with a wide watermelon wedge in hand on the hottest day of summer.
    Jaden did, but she didn’t want her feelings about the man to be so apparent. Especially to the woman she mentored. Jaden was the one who was supposed to be insightful in this relationship. That was one of the perks of the job. “Well, about the wedding, I’ll come back for that two days before and help prep everything, so you should be fine with the extra help. But you have to cover evenings. The two of them will most likely want to open together, and I’ll need you to shut down shop at night. I can’t promise that they can cover you, and the last thing we need is to close early.”
    Kris squinted at Jaden, and she knew that the quick change of subject was for now unchallenged, but was noted in a mental Rolodex somewhere. “Yeah, yeah, I know it’s bad for business.”
    “Thanks, Kris, you don’t understand how much I—” But Kris cut her off before she could even try to express her appreciation for the extra help.
    “Stop it right there. That’s what friends are for, right?” Kris winked and laughed the unusually emotional sentiment off with a smirk.
    That evening Jonah showed up at closing time. She wasn’t sure how he planned for this to work and hopefully tonight would leave fewer questions and more answers than the night before.
    “I want to talk to you when you’re finished if that’s all right with you.” His demeanor didn’t seem to ask her. Instead the phrase respectfully demanded her consent.
    Since that fit in with her plans, Jaden opted not to make this molehill into a mountain. “That’s fine. Why are you here then?”
    “Well, I seem to have gotten a terrible sweet tooth lately, and this would be a good